Mulvaney: Pelosi Hiding From Shutdown Negotiations Because She ‘Does Not Have The Votes’ For Speaker

9:55 AM 12/28/2018 | Politics

Scott Morefield | Reporter

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Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney theorized that one reason Rep. Nancy Pelosi has refused to negotiate with President Trump on border wall funding could be that she “does not have the votes” for Speaker of the House.

Mulvaney’s comments came as a part of a larger conversation about border wall negotiations on “Fox & Friends” Friday morning.

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“Chuck Schumer voted for border security in 2006,” Mulvaney explained, drawing attention to the fact that Democrats haven’t always been against controlling the border. “He voted for it again I think in 2011. It seems like Democrats really like border security when there is a Democrat in office and don’t like it when Donald Trump is in office.”

Although Schumer seemed to be willing to come to “some sort of compromise” the last time they met, “the more we’re hearing this week is that it is Nancy Pelosi who is preventing that from happening,” Mulvaney explained.

When asked about any behind the scenes negotiations possibly taking place, Mulvaney said, “No, they left town” during the shutdown and in time for the holidays:

And I think the reason they did is because Nancy Pelosi, in fairness, does not have the votes for the speakership yet. She cannot be seen by her party as being weak on negotiating with Donald Trump. So we fully expect that until she is elected speaker and has locked that vote up, we don’t expect to hear from the Democrats again. They told us last night that they were not countering our last offer.